Vacuum cleaner



Jan. 21, 1941 F. RIEBEL, JR, ETAL' VACUUM CLEANER Original Filed Oct. 26, 1955 Patented Jan. 21, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE VACUUM CLEANER Original application October 26, 1935, Serial No. 46,896. Divided and this application August 31, 1938, Serial No. 227,700

4 Claims.

This invention relates to suction cleaners, and has for its object to provide a novel rotary agitator, light in weight but sturdy, having flexible beating elements, detachably mounted, which is relatively more simple and inexpensive than prior structures of the same general type.

Another object is to provide novel and. improved means for detachably securing an agitation element to a rotary agitator spindle of a hollow shell type.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent in the exemplification set forth in the following detailed description making reference to the appended drawing in which:

Fig. l is a plan view of the rotary agitator embodied in the invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the beater and of the agitator shell;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the agitator in a different position;

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view through parts of the agitator;

Fig. 5 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a cross sectional View taken on the line 66 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 7 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 1-! of Fig. 5.

The subject matter of this case is a division of our application Serial Number 46,896, filed October 26, 1935, and is filed in conformity to a requirement of division made in said case to which reference has just been made.

The rotary agitator H a portion of which is shown in Fig. 2 comprises a hollow shell, which is built up of sections of metal tubing 39. The shell sections 39 are connected to a. pulley 4! which is formed with opposite integral collars 42 secured in the ends of the shell sections 39. The pulley 4| is of thin tubing, rounded so as to extrude the center portion to a diameter greater than that of the shell sections 39, and to reduce the collar portion 42 to a diameter such as to fit within the shell sections.

The full spindle is disclosed in Figs. 1 and 3, to show the relationship of the brushes to their mounting, but since the subject thereof is retained in the parent case hereof only a brief reference shall be made to them.

In Figs. 1 and 5 the brushes are indicated at 52 secured in appropriate backing elements 45, which are inserted in slots (not shown) cut in the agitator. The slot has a notch construction (not shown) through which lugs 46 are inserted where upon relative axial movement of brush and agitator shell it is locked in place and retained in position by shoulders 41 engaging the shell of the agitator as particularly shown in Fig. 5. Screws 5!! thereafter insure the permanent retention of the brush in position which is received in an aperture of the brush holder 48.

The subject of this invention is concerned with the beater element more particularly defined and described later. For that reason only a very brief reference is made to the brushes and the relationship in the positioning thereof is clearly shown in the drawing.

The beating elements (Fig. 7) each comprise elongated channels 53 of smooth faced metal or the like and are secured to the edge 54 of a soft rubber strip 55. The opposite edge region of the latter is mounted on a tubular trunnion member 55 the ends of which are journalled in sockets 51 (Fig. 6) provided in mounting plates 58, and removable bearing caps 59. The mounting plates 58 are secured in slots 60 out in the shell members 39, and are provided with flanges Bl which are welded or otherwise suitably secured to the wall regions defining the slots 60. The slots 60 are wide enough so that the'axes of the trunnions 56 are disposed substantially below the extended cylindrical contour of the shell 39. This makes it possible to increase the radius height of the beater elements without increasing the over-all diameter of the agitator.

The rubber strip 55 has lateral wings 62 which engage the fiat surface of the mounting plate 58 'and hold the beater element in the radially outstanding position while allowing it to recede under carpet contact.

Making the shell in sections greatly facilitates the perforation of slots 60. The pulley 4| serves as the means for connecting the shell sections and holding them in axial alignment. Cylindrical seamless tubing is used to form the shell sections so as to assume accurate axial alignment. In the one end of the shell sections are discs 64 on which are mounted stub shafts 65 by means of which the rotary agitator is journalled in the ends of suction chamber Ill.

The mounting plates 58 are die-pressed sheet metal and can be made very accurately uniform. By cutting away a shell as at 60 and inserting separate mounting plates, a difiiculty which would be encountered if an attempt were made to simply flatten the shell member 39 or 40 is entirely avoided. This difficulty would be the deforming of the adjacent regions of the tube out of true cylindrical shape.

We claim as our invention:

1. In a vacuum cleaner rotary agitator which comprises, an elongated thin walled cylindrical shell having a rectangular elongated aperture therein, a plate insertible in said slot, said plate having longitudinally extended lateral Wing portions contacting the Walls of the agitator shell adjacent said slot and secured to said walls, said plate having a longitudinal depression centrally disposed thereof, a longitudinally extended beater element having trunnions thereon and mounted in said depression, bearing caps secured to the ends of said plate, said caps retaining said beaters in said depression and permitting a relative swinging movement of said beater and said cylindrical shell on said trunnions.

2. In a flexible beater mounting for a rotatable agitator the combination, a thin walled hollow cylindrical shell having a longitudinally extended rectangular aperture therein, a mounting for said beater arranged in said slot, said mounting comprising a depressed plate having longitudinally extended wing portions and mounted over said slot, said wing portions adapted to be secured to the wall portions adjacent said slot, a beater element, trunnion means mounted on said beater and extending beyond the ends of said beater element, said beater and trunnion disposed in the depressed portion of said plate, means engaging said trunnions and secured to said plate for retaining said beater in position on said plate, said means adapted to permit said beater to swing relatively of said plate and said shell.

3. In a beater mounting for a flexible agitator of a vacuum cleaner, the combination, a longitudinally extended thin walled hollow cylindrical shell having a rectangular longitudinally extended aperture therein, means to mount a beater in said slot, comprising a plate element, said plate having a longitudinally extended depression, 1ongitudinally extended lateral Wing portions provided on said plate and adapted to be secured to the wall portions of said shell adjacent said slot, a beater mounted on a trunnion element whose length is greater than the length of the beater, said trunnion mounted in said depression, bearing caps mounted on said plate and engaging the ends of said trunnion in said depression to hold said beater trunnion in position and to permit relative swinging movement of said beater and plate and means on said beater engaging said plate whereby said beater is kept in a normally radial position relative to the shell.

4. In a rotary agitator having a flexible vibrator, the combination, a thin walled piece of seamless tubing, a longitudinal slot provided in said tubing, means to mount said vibrator in said slot comprising, a plate element having longitudinally extended wing portions and mounted over said slot, said wing portions adapted to be secured to the tubing walls adjacent said slot, said plate having a depressed portion centrally disposed relative to the slot, a beater element provided With trunnion means and arranged to seat in said depressed portion, means mounted on said plate and engaging said trunnion means adapted to retain said beater in position and to permit a relative swinging movement of said beater and tubing and means to keep said beater in a position radial to said tubing.

FREDERICK RIEBEL, JR. DEWEY M. DOW. 

